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August 25, 2015

Quick Servant

How Does Central Air Conditioning Work?

Central air conditioning is arguably one of the greatest inventions of the last century, yet many homeowners don’t know how their central air conditioning systems work.

While explaining the process can be confusing, how central air conditioning functions is not that much different from your refrigerator. Both devices convert liquid into gas in order to absorb heat, and both go through a refrigeration process to produce cool air.

Liquids that are used in these processes are called refrigerants. Refrigerants have the tendency to change phases at low temperatures. This trait or ability makes refrigerant a great candidate for cooling air. To produce cooled air, fans inside the air conditioning unit blow warm exterior air over cold coils, causing the air to cool down considerably. From here, the evaporation process begins.

The evaporation process essentially absorbs heat from the air as a way to allow the phase change from a liquid to a gas. Unlike swamp coolers, which rely on the same dynamics, central air conditioning units are not affected by outside humidity. This is mainly due to the enclosed environment that the evaporation process takes place in. However, all the liquid that is converted into a gas must be turned back into a liquid once again.

This process is done by a highly-pressurized pump that turns the gas back into a liquid. Unfortunately, turning a gas back into a liquid gives off a lot of heat, so this heat must be evacuated outside rather than inside the vents of the house. Once all the gas is converted, the air conditioning unit then repeats the cooling evaporation process.

Although you might think that this process happens at separate times, in reality, the process mentioned above happens all at once due to two separate sections of coils located within. To start, the liquid is moved through a system of coils. This is the cooling section that cools air that’s blown over it and into the vents. Once all the liquid becomes a gas, it moves into another coiled section that involves high pressure. This high pressure converts the gas back into liquid and the heat is moved outside so that it doesn’t affect the vents inside the house.

Call Quick Servant For All of Your HVAC System Needs

This whole process of central air conditioning moves in a literal cycle that feeds itself, much like an electric circuit. As with any device, there are many things that can go wrong. Because fixing an air conditioning problem can be nearly impossible without professional help or assistance, it’s important to have a professional HVAC company you can rely on whenever you’re in need of services.

Schedule a visit with us today to get the fast, reliable service you need! We provide repair, replacement and maintenance for a multitude of services, including air conditioning, refrigeration and cooking equipment.